A former bookkeeper for the Harry Bridges Institute in San Pedro will serve five years’ probation for embezzling more than $190,000 from the nonprofit.

Teri Esposito, 45, of Rancho Palos Verdes also must repay what she stole and will spend 60 days doing community service for the state Department of Transportation, a Long Beach judge ordered Wednesday.

Esposito pleaded no contest Sept. 24 to one count of grand theft by embezzlement and an allegation that she stole more than $150,000, according to Shiara Davila, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.

In charges filed against Esposito on Aug. 11, she was accused of embezzling from the nonprofit between November 2005 and April 2.

The Harry Bridges Institute is an educational outreach organization related to the labor movement. It has close ties to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and is named after the ILWU’s founder and long-serving president.

Peter Larkin, an attorney who represents the institute, said Esposito was in charge of paying the organization’s bills and its credit cards.

She used the organization’s credit cards for personal items, including trips, then paid the bills with checks from its bank account, Larkin said.

However, funds ran low and collection notices started to arrive, catching the attention of others, Larkin said.

“There were a lot of strange things that were going on there that, when you go through and look at them, they start to jump out,” Larkin said. “Everybody is upset.

“People felt like they were taken advantage of.”

Los Angeles Police Detective Stuart Michelson of the Financial Crimes Division said Esposito did not have a criminal record.

“What’s amazing is how these people think they’re gonna get away with it,” Michelson added.

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